Aileen Meagher meet: Injury forces out Harris, local high school student shines

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Crystal Emmanuel pushes through the finish line to win her heat in the women's 100m at the Aileen Meagher International Track Classic on Saturday at Huskies Stadium in Halifax. (ERIC WYNNE/Staff)

Crystal Emmanuel pushes through the finish line to win her heat in the women's 100m at the Aileen Meagher International Track Classic on Saturday at Huskies Stadium in Halifax. (ERIC WYNNE/Staff)

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Josh Lunda, second from left, from Cole Harbour, trails slightly behind leader Levi Cadogan from the Barbados in their 100m heatat the Aileen Meagher International Track Classic on Saturday at Huskies Stadium in Halifax. Cadogan crossed the finish in 10.564. (ERIC WYNNE / Staff)

Josh Lunda, second from left, from Cole Harbour, trails slightly behind leader Levi Cadogan from the Barbados in their 100m heatat the Aileen Meagher International Track Classic on Saturday at Huskies Stadium in Halifax. Cadogan crossed the finish in 10.564. (ERIC WYNNE / Staff)

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Josh Lunda, a student at Cole Harbour High School, hugs his father Makuna after finding out he cracked the 11-second mark, with a personal best of 10.974 seconds, in the men’s development-level 100-metre race at the Aileen Meagher International Track Classic on Saturday at Huskies Stadium in Halifax. (ERIC WYNNE / Staff)

Josh Lunda, a student at Cole Harbour High School, hugs his father Makuna after finding out he cracked the 11-second mark, with a personal best of 10.974 seconds, in the men’s development-level 100-metre race at the Aileen Meagher International Track Classic on Saturday at Huskies Stadium in Halifax. (ERIC WYNNE / Staff)

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Courtney Langille crosses the finished with a time of 58.93 seconds in the women's 400m at the Aileen Meagher International Track Classic on Saturday at Huskies Stadium in Halifax. (ERIC WYNNE / Staff)

Courtney Langille crosses the finished with a time of 58.93 seconds in the women's 400m at the Aileen Meagher International Track Classic on Saturday at Huskies Stadium in Halifax. (ERIC WYNNE / Staff)

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Ben Brown leads the pack in the wheelchair 100m race at the Aileen Meagher International Track Classic on Saturday at Huskies Stadium in Halifax. He finished with a time of 17.302 seconds. (ERIC WYNNE / Staff)

Ben Brown leads the pack in the wheelchair 100m race at the Aileen Meagher International Track Classic on Saturday at Huskies Stadium in Halifax. He finished with a time of 17.302 seconds. (ERIC WYNNE / Staff)

If Saturday’s rain and cool temperatures weren’t disappointing enough, a local fan favourite was forced to withdraw from competing at the Aileen Meagher International Track Classic.

Halifax middle-distance runner Geoff Harris, a 2012 Olympian, was scratched from the 800-metre race at Huskies Stadium because of a back injury.

“I’ve been having a back issue for the last few weeks and we were hoping we could stay on top of it,” the 27-year-old Harris said. “But three nights ago I just landed oddly doing one of my exercises and torqued it out. We decided to make a game-time call. I just went to the therapist and she said it’s still really compressed.”

Harris won the 800 at the 2012 Aileen Meagher and was runner-up to Anthony Romaniw of Hamilton, Ont., last year. But with the 2014 Canadian track and field championships only two weeks away in Moncton, Harris didn’t want to aggravate the injury any further.

“Being so close to nationals, we had to make a priority call,” said Harris, who’s the two-time defending national champion in the 800. “Nationals obviously are very important so withdrawing will give me a lot more time to recover.

“If it was warmer tonight, it would’ve helped. But regardless of the conditions this was the right call to make.”

Ireland’s Declan Murray ran a 1:47.95 to win the 800, ahead of American Duncan Philips (1:48.50) and Romaniw (1:49.05).

Celia Peters was hoping to continue her bounce-back season in the women’s 800. After achieving several personal bests already in 2014, the New Glasgow native was disappointed in her sixth-place finish on Saturday.

The 26-year-old came in at 2:07.75, well behind winner Charlene Lipsey of the U.S. (2:02.32) and Canadians Rachel Aubry (2:05.06) and Grace Annear (2:05.20).

“Sports wouldn’t be sports if you didn’t want a little bit more. I didn’t get that today but that keeps you going to the next one,” said Peters, a former Dalhousie track star, who topped out at 2:04.73 earlier this season.

“Today I felt a little bit frantic in my race. The key in the 800 is to be really relaxed. It’s not where I wanted to be. Every day can’t be your day.”

Canada’s Crystal Emmanuel captured both the 100m and 200m races, each time edging out compatriot Kimberley Hyacinthe.

Other women’s wins went to Lavonne Idlette of the Dominican Republic (100m hurdles), Jamaica’s Patricia Hall (400) and Stephanie Charnigo of the U.S. (1,500).

LaToy Williams of the Bahamas established a new meet record in the men’s 400-metre race. Williams crossed the line in 45.57, shredding the three-year old mark by .43 of a second.

Cole Harbour’s Josh Lunda broke the 11-second barrier for the first time in his career in the men’s development-level 100-metre race. The 18-year-old, who captured his fifth straight 100m provincial high school title at last weekend’s NSSAF championships in Sydney, was ecstatic to learn of his personal-best 10.98 seconds.

“I’ve been training for months, even years, to get under 11,” said Lunda, who finished runner-up to Levi Cadogan of Barbados (10.57). “It’s a beginning now. Now I want to progress and get a lower time. I’m super excited.”